Drug dealer could get 90-year sentence

A Vacherie man is facing a possible 90-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to intent to distribute cocaine, a synthetic drug called Foxy and more than $70,000 worth of crack cocaine.

Jean-Paul ArguelloStaff Writer

A Vacherie man is facing a possible 90-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to intent to distribute cocaine, a synthetic drug called Foxy and more than $70,000 worth of crack cocaine.Ashleigh Keller, 33, plead guilty to three counts of possession with intent to distribute a schedule one narcotic and simple possession of marijuana.Possession with intent to distribute a schedule one narcotic carries a sentence of five years to no more than 30 years with hard labor and up to a $30,000 fine.The charges stem from a 2011 drug bust by the Lafourche Parish Drug Task Force. An anonymous tipster told officers on Oct. 20, 2011, that Keller's associate Ronald Harry Jr. would be delivering a black duffel bag filled with narcotics to a house in the 200 block of Sanders Street in Thibodaux, Thibodaux Police said.Task force agents said they showed up at the house and spoke with Keller and another man who were barbecuing in the front yard. One of the agents recognized Keller and remembered he had an active narcotics arrest warrant.Keller appeared nervous when agents asked if they could search his car, and he refused to give them consent, according to reports. He ran down the street when agents called in a K-9 unit to check out the car. The K-9 unit detected drugs in the car and agents found more than $70,000 worth of crack individually packaged for sale, individually wrapped bags of cocaine, marijuana and five pills that appeared to be Ecstasy, police said.The Louisiana State Police Crime Lab later determined the pills to be 5-methoxy-n,n-diisopropyltryptamine, a synthetic hallucinogen known as Foxy or Foxy Methoxy, police said.Keller will be sentenced on Sept. 23.

Staff Writer Jean-Paul Arguello can be reached at 448-7617 or at jean-paul.arguello@dailycomet.com.